Chapter 21: Love Rival She is very good, we have been dating for a while...

The guests were Rita and several people who were in the bar box with her that night, but the man accompanying her was no longer the same man she was at that time. She had been replaced by a younger male companion.

They had originally planned to have a party on a cruise ship and invite Kaka's teammates—those incredibly handsome men—to join in the fun, but Rosalia got injured during a mission, so everyone ended up coming to her house.

Ms. Christine showed up, said hello to everyone, and went upstairs.

The others didn't care and dispersed naturally in the villa's living room. Soon someone brought them snacks and tea. They felt like they were at home and didn't need a housekeeper to operate anything. They turned on the TV and connected the PS2 they brought for Rosalia to pass the time, and started playing FIFA2005.

When Kaka helped Rosalia walk to the living room, the room was already bustling with activity and fighting.

"Hey, where are you kicking?"

"Is this okay? If not, change someone quickly!"

Kaka poked Rosalia's waist and motioned her to look at the TV: "That's me."

Rosalia stared at it for a long time, incredulous. "Who made this model? It's so ugly!" She quickly explained, "I'm not saying you're ugly. Oh, how can you tell who's who with all these little figures? If it weren't for the red and black striped uniforms with their names on them, I'd have thought Matthew had rejuvenated and could play football."

Several people sat in front of the TV, staring at the screen and frantically fiddling with their controllers. After each game, they were still bickering with each other: "You're such a loser!" "You're not much better!"

They were about to say hello to Rosalia, but when they turned around, they saw Kaka standing behind them with a big smile on his face. He even bent down and asked, "Did Milan win?"

One person stammered, "No, Manchester United won."

Kaka smacked his lips: "Really? What a pity."

Rosalia was sitting on the sofa talking to Rita. She turned around and said, "You all probably know him, Kaka, my boyfriend."

Kaka put one hand on her shoulder and greeted everyone with the other hand: "Hello, you can call me Kaka."

"That's Simon, George, Mattia, and Alex." Rosalia introduced them one by one. "This is Rita, Lola, and that's..."

Rita answered: "Ivan, my male companion."

Several of them are old acquaintances who often appear at various occasions and have met many celebrities, not to mention that this is in Italy, where celebrities and football stars also often appear at various dinner events.

The main reason was that they had just been playing with someone else's game character, and not only did they play well, but they also lost. The player they were controlling suddenly appeared in front of them on the TV screen, which made them confused. They thought it was Kaka rushing out of the TV to hit him.

Now they have realized what is happening and are eager to invite him to play together.

"Want a game, Kaka?"

"Let's go together!"

They were in local battle mode, with only two controllers, and just now there were two people watching and two people playing.

Kaka didn't refuse. He was wearing outdoor clothes and sat on the ground with everyone else to take the handle.

He agreed with everyone, his eyes constantly glancing to the side. There was a boy sitting there. Unlike the others, who had blond hair as children and whose hair gradually turned brown as they aged, he looked to be in his early twenties, his hair still blond. A few freckles dotted the sides of his nose, making him even cuter.

Kaka noticed that when Leah introduced herself to them just now, everyone was looking at him secretly to some extent. The boy kept pursing his lips until Leah mentioned him and then he nodded perfunctorily.

He remembered that the boy's name was Mattia.

"Mattia?" Kaka smiled at him. "Want to play a game?"

The remaining few people exchanged glances. Kaka saw it, remained calm, and handed the handle to him.

Mattia's face changed. He first glanced at Rosalia, who was sitting on the sofa chatting. Seeing that she didn't look at him, he curled his lips and didn't take the controller from him. He grabbed the one in Simon's hand and said, "Come on!"

He still doesn't believe it. Playing well on the court doesn't mean he'll be good at the game!

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, what's that saying? Oh, beauty is a disaster."

Rita and a few others were sitting on the sofa chatting, but they also paid attention to the people in front of the TV. Seeing Kaka and Mattia sitting upright on the ground, holding the controllers and staring at the screen, she couldn't help but sigh.

"You should go play with them too." She chased Ivan away and then came over to ask, "What's going on with you two?"

Laura also came over: “Are you serious?”

The way they talked to each other was like rabbits sharing a piece of grass.

"Ahem," Rosalia suppressed her laughter. "My dad wants to introduce me to a man anyway, so I might as well take the initiative and avoid being targeted by those people out there trying to arrange a marriage."

Laura nodded in agreement: "That's right, I heard that their players' annual salaries are not low, and the spokesperson my family signed also received a lot of advertising fees."

Rita said enviously, "And still young."

"She's in good shape."

"Good physical strength too."

"She's pretty, too."

"Ah," they both sighed in unison, "I really envy you."

"When are you two planning to have your wedding?"

Rosalia:?

"You're progressing too fast! You're even more anxious than my parents!" Rosalia had never thought about it. She had just been transferred to a familiar position and had not yet been transferred back to take up a new position. It was too early to talk about whether to get married or not.

"I've seen some of his teammates date for years and have had several children before getting married. I'm not in a hurry."

"He's not in a hurry either?" Laura pointed at Kaka's back. The two of them were having fun. The screen was split in two and the characters on it were so densely packed that it made people dizzy.

"I don't know about that," Rosalia pondered for a moment, then thought of Kaka's parents. "I don't even know if he's told his family."

*

It's already afternoon here in Italy, but it's still morning in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Kaka's father, Bosco, was still considering whether to quit his job and concentrate on helping his eldest son run the team. In the first few days after Kaka returned to Sao Paulo, he tentatively asked for a job, but was unexpectedly rejected by Kaka.

"It's true that Ribeiro is too busy to handle everything and doesn't have many connections in Italy, but I've been in contact with other teams and some agents have contacted me. Dad, you don't have to worry too much about me. Everyone is very nice to me and takes good care of me." Kaka said it very tactfully, but his attitude of rejection was very clear. "Besides, I have a girlfriend, she is Italian and lives in Milan. We are doing well. If there is a chance, you and mom can come to Milan and we can go out for dinner and chat."

When Bosco heard his son had found an Italian girlfriend, he stopped caring about his agent and asked, "Girlfriend? Are you guys in a relationship? How old is she? What does she do? What's her family like?"

He didn't reveal much about Leah, but just comforted his father: "She is fine, we have confirmed our relationship and have been dating for a while." But when Bosco asked again, Kaka avoided the question and turned to other topics.

It wasn't until one day when Simone came to her son's room to deliver washed clothes to him that she happened to see Kaka talking to Rosalia on the phone. Seeing that he was smiling and looked even more relaxed than in front of her and her husband, she couldn't help but ask a question.

Seeing his mother's mischievous smile, Kaka scratched his head sheepishly and explained, "Liya is a police officer and is usually busy. We would call her when she is free."

Without waiting for Simone to ask again, he gently pushed his mother's shoulders and walked her out of the house.

"Goodbye, Mom!"

Bosco couldn't get any more information out of his son about his girlfriend, so he sighed at home. He saw him suddenly pack his bags and return to Italy in a hurry, not even paying attention to his initial promise to stay home until training before returning.

He suspected that his son was anxious to go back and see his girlfriend, and he was already a little dissatisfied before they even met.

"Why is he in such a hurry to go back? Is it because his girlfriend is urging him to go back?"

Simone had no classes today and was pruning the flowers in the vase at home. Upon hearing what her husband said, she turned and glared at him, saying unhappily, "Is Richie that kind of person? I think you're just being too anxious!"

Ever since he saw her talking to her son in the house and her relationship seemed better than theirs, her husband kept asking her if she knew what the girl was like, which made her very confused.

"I don't know what you're worried about. He's already in his twenties. If he hadn't played football, he'd probably have kids by now. Now he's found someone he likes and has a girlfriend, and you keep asking questions!"

"I'm not afraid that he will be cheated. You don't know how many traps there are for their young stars now." Bosco explained angrily.

Simone blurted out: "What kind of trap is this? The girl is a police officer, and you still don't trust your own son?" After he finished speaking, he realized that he had let the cat out of the bag and turned his head away without saying anything.

Bosco stood up quickly, walked over quickly and asked: "Police? How does he know the police? Did something happen? Is it the club or the fans? Why didn't Richie tell us? Is he injured?" He remembered Kaka lying weak in bed when he was injured as a child. There was a hint of panic in his tone. He didn't care about his girlfriend or agent. None of them were more important than Kaka's health.

"Alright, he doesn't look okay? You're just paying too much attention to him! Ever since he got injured, you've been trying to pick him up and drop him off every day, from school to the club." Simone's tone slowed down at this point. "He's already in his twenties. We can't keep controlling his life."

Control.

It was a word he had never thought of, and now, used to describe the relationship between him and his son, it sounded very harsh. Was he really manipulating Richie? He didn't know, but his wife was right. Their son had grown up, no longer the little boy lying in bed, smiling at him in pain to comfort him.

Bosco sat back on the sofa, staring blankly at the family photo on the cabinet, his mind in a mess.

*

"We are not in a hurry. We haven't enjoyed our love life yet. I don't want to be called Mrs. Wright every time I go out," said Rosalia.

Rita wanted to ask Kaka if he had any single teammates, preferably those as handsome as him, but before she could finish her words, the battle situation over there was already very clear and the winner had been decided.

Simon exclaimed, "I didn't expect you to be so good at football and games too!"

Kaka put down the controller, not even looking at the distraught Mattia next to him, and said modestly: "We often play when we are not training. Practice makes perfect."

"Hey, are you guys going back to the club for training?" George suddenly remembered that the Serie A summer transfer window was about to open and asked, "Who are you planning to buy this year?"

This question is like telling the players that they can buy whoever they want. Even coach Ancelotti has to follow his instructions. He will use whoever Galliani buys, otherwise he would not have worked so hard to study the Christmas tree formation.

But none of this could be said to anyone else. Kaka quickly changed the subject, saying, "We don't know either, but there will be an open day after training resumes. If you want to come, you can come and have fun. By then, we won't be back to the game schedule yet, so I can show you around Milanello if you'd like."

"Okay, I've only been to San Siro to watch games, and haven't been to Milanello yet. Let's exchange contact information and get in touch later." Alex took out his mobile phone, and several people exchanged mobile phone numbers and agreed to go to the open day together when they have time.

If the initial friendly relationship with Kaka was due to Rosalia's favor, the current exchange of personal contact information was due to his attitude. It wasn't that we had to go to the football club to watch them play, but Kaka's attitude during their time together was very generous. He had a handsome appearance that appealed to both men and women, and he always smiled when he spoke, his clear eyes looking at you, making you subconsciously like him.

It’s not that they haven’t seen football stars before. Some of them are very good at playing football, but unfortunately they have bad character. When you see him smile, you feel that his eyes are evaluating whether you are worthy of his association.

It was such a shame for Mattia. Alex couldn't help but glance at him. Mattia was younger than them, two years younger than Kaka, and had been running around after Rosalia since they were little. Wherever she was, he was always there. They'd been happy with this, thinking they might just have to deal with it internally. But then, unexpectedly, Kaka showed up. He was handsome, had a good temper, and looked a perfect match for Rosalia.

Kaka exchanged contact information and held his phone in front of the depressed Mattia, pretending not to see his anger and said with a smile: "Mattia, can I exchange contact information with you?"

Mattia wanted to refuse, and even threw Kaka's phone away. But when he looked up, he saw everyone was looking at him. Even Leah and the others stopped talking and looked over. He could only grit his teeth and squeeze out a few words: "Okay."

"He's so tall..." Lita sighed, "I thought he was a little lamb."

Rosalia smiled without saying anything. She had long discovered that Kaka was not an innocent little lamb, but a mischievous Samoyed who would ooze black soup if poked.

"What are you talking about?" Kaka saw his rival defeated, and contentedly took back his phone. He returned the controller to Simon so they could continue playing. He walked over, put his hand on Leah's shoulder, and kissed her cheek gently. "Are you tired?"

"I'm not tired. How about you?" Rosalia ignored Rita and Lola, whose faces were wrinkled beside them, and leaned her head against him, looking up at him. "Are you happy?"

"certainly."

Kaka was beaming, and it wasn't clear if he was happy to have won the match, or happy to have asserted his sovereignty over his rival. Perhaps it was a combination of both.

The author has something to say:

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It's incredible, I've already written over 60,000 words. Although this one isn't finished yet, I'm already thinking about the next one... I'm thinking of starting a no-CP, no-partner, kind of "raising a child" kind of story, maybe with Milan as the secondary CP [sunglasses], but my goal is to finish this one first!